Power consumption is a key consideration in devices that are battery powered. A design criterion for a battery powered device is to minimize power consumption to extend the period of time between battery recharges or replacement as much as possible. In some deployments, such as remotely located sensors, battery replacement may be both impractical as well as expensive. Even in situations where the battery powered device is readily accessible and recharging is easy, such as in cellular telephones, tablets, laptop computers, wearable devices (WDs) including smart watches or virtual reality equipment, and so on, recharging the battery of a battery powered device is still an inconvenient and time consuming task.
Device discovery and connection establishment for discovered devices are typically power intensive processes. Establishing a connection for a device may involve a discovery phase where a device searches for neighboring devices, as well as a connection setup phase where a pair of devices exchange transmissions to establish a connection between the pair of devices. These phases are distinct from a data exchange phase that takes place over the connection, which may occur only after connection establishment has completed, or which may use a communication technology that differs from that used during discovery or connection setup phases. Connection establishment may consume a significant amount of power, as well as resources, especially in situations where many connections need to be established or repeatedly established.